However, scaring children isn't safe or easy work. The monsters believe that human children are highly toxic and only the bravest and most talented venture into a kid's bedroom. The populace live in terror of the possibility that a kid might find their way back through the door into the city, especially since this generation of kids are harder to frighten. The difficulty in scaring children and the constant scrutiny of the CDA (Child Detection Agency) has led to a power shortage as Monsters, Inc. struggles to keep the city lit.

Life is great — until one of the extremely poisonous fuel sources enters their world and threatens everything. Yes, a human child! Doom-doom-doom! (Actually, she's rather adorable.) Sulley and Mike's friendship becomes increasingly strained as they try to get the little terror back to her world without getting contaminated or arrested. Along the way, they stumble upon a conspiracy that threatens to undermine their life's work — and possibly their lives.

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A prequel was released twelve years later in 2013. Titled Monsters University, the new film stars Mike and Sulley in their college days. Dan Scanlon is directing. Having never met before, Mike and Sulley end up becoming rivals in the scaring program at the University. However, their bickering leads them to be kicked out of the program. In order to get back in, they must join a fraternity and enter the Scare Games. Ending up in the lamest fraternity on campus OK (Oozma Kappa), Mike and Sulley must rally a group of underdogs to succeed in the games.

A follow-up DVD short, Mike's New Car, was released with the Monsters, Inc. DVD.

The point of the CDA's decontaminations, when it's discovered that humans and their possessions are not toxic after all. They blew up a building just because a human kid was in it as an 835 call, for crying out loud!

Randall and Waternoose's Evil Plan ultimately proved pointless after the monsters discovered an alternative, more ethical method of gaining energy. Both monsters' lives were disgraced and ruined due to clutching the Villain Ball.

All Myths Are True: Cryptids such as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot are actually ex-citizens of Monstropolis who have been banished to the human world.

Randall, who is purple and looks like a lizard and a snake. (Speaking of snakes, there's Celia's hair, which consists of five purple rattlesnakes)

Waternoose, who is gray and looks like an arachnid and a crustacean.

Many other monsters are in bright colors—Mike is a light green, Celia mentioned above is purple, and George is orange with yellow stripes, among other examples.

Amusing Injuries: Mike is frequently subjected to these throughout the movie. The amusement they bring to Boo is actually a plot point as they eventually realize that Boos laughter at these amusing injuries is a more powerful energy supply than traditional screams.

Anything but That!: When the CDA enter the Scare Floor on a 2319 call, Waternoose groans, "Oh, not the CDA."

Artistic License  History: After George Sanderson gets subjected thrice to "code 2319" indignities, his assistant tells him that he'll next be sent on an easy scare job in, "Nice... quiet.. Nepal." In reality, during the film's production, Nepal had been embroiled in civil war since 1996. And four months before the film's November 2001 release, the King and Queen and eight other members of the royal family were killed in a bizarre massacre in the royal palace.

When Sulley shushes Boo, she copies the gesture and says, "Shh!" back.

When Mike does a rambling speech that involves his name, Boo repeats it and she ends up liking to say his name, even giving it when asked, "What's your name?".

Bad Boss: Randall is very rude and abrasive toward his assistant Fungus, their relationship being totally opposite to Sulley and Mike's.It's telling that when Fungus is seen at the end without Randall, he is much happier.

Bad to the Last Drop: Whatever it is they drink instead of coffee, it's a thick sludge that slowly oozes out of the dispensers.

Big "WHAT?!": Mike to Sulley in the door vault after doing a flip and landing on his crotch on a girder, and Sulley noticing too late that Boo's costume covered her face so she didn't see the flip, so he hurt himself for nothing.

Black Comedy: Sulley watching what he thinks is Boo go through through increasingly more outlandish trash compacting methods. Of course, the audience knows she's not in there.

Celia: So, uh, are we going anywhere special tonight? Mike: Ah, I just got us into a little place called, um, Harryhausen's. Celia:(gasps) Harryhausen's!? But it's impossible to get a reservation there! Mike: Not for googly-bear.

Mike and Sulley are arguing about Boo on Scare Floor F, when Mike realizes mid-sentence that everyone is watching. He tries to spin his line "Put that thing back where it came from or so help me...!" as practice for the company play. During the credits, the cast performs "Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me: The Musical."

Mike then tells confused scare floor workers and CDA agents, "we'll need ushers." At the end, a CDA agent is working as an usher.

Sulley puts the stuff from Boo's room in a locker. Guess who opens that same locker a few scenes later?

The first scene in the first issue of Laugh Factory is a new company commercial, this time ending with the logo on Sulley's face instead of Mike, much to his chagrin.

Broken Pedestal: Waternoose becomes this to Sulley when the latter finds out the former's plans of kidnapping children to solve the energy crisis.

"Little Mikey", the stuffed animal that Mike doesn't want Boo touching, is described as a bear (despite having one eye, several legs/tentacles, fangs and horns).

Cassandra Truth: Celia demands that Mike tell her the truth about what's going on, which he does.

Mike: Okay, here's the truth. You know that kid they're looking for? Sulley let her in. We tried to send her back, but Waternoose had this secret plot, and now Randall's right behind us, and he's trying to kill us! Celia: You expect me to believe that pack of lies, Mike Wazowski?

It's immediately subverted when Celia sees Boo, then the pursuing Randall, and realizes that Mike is telling the truth.

Cheated Angle: The closet doors. When they're closed, they're almost always seen directly from the front. But when they're open, they're almost always seen from an angle. And they are only rarely seen from behind, mostly after Mike and Sulley are sent away to the Himalayas, but there are a couple of other exceptionally brief glances.

It's noted throughout the film (and through its prequel) that most of the monsters aren't naturally scary, Mike being the stand-out example, and when caught off guard can even evoke joy or laughter from the children they victimise. This ends up becoming very pivotal during the end.

The Chew Toy: George Sanderson, as a Running Gag, keeps getting articles of clothing caught on his fur, resulting in numerous humiliating 2319 calls. Sometimes Mike, although it's usually his own fault.

At one point, Sulley protests about Boo being in the restroom, not because she's human, but because she's a girl in the men's bathroom.

Mike: That is the weirdest thing you have ever said.

Also, when Mike tries to apologize to Sulley while remaining completely oblivious to the fact that Sulley is being beaten up by an invisible Randall.

Sulley: I'm being attacked!

Mike: No, I'm not attacking you. I'm trying to be honest.

Comic-Book Adaptation: Boom! Studios did a sequel of sorts, featuring Randall's return, Waternoose's escape from prison, Sid using the closet doors to his advantage, and the subsequent team-up of the three.

Cone of Shame: Monsters who undergo decontamination by the CDA due to a 2319 or 835 call end up wearing one.

Does This Remind You of Anything?: Randal interrogates Mike in the hallway a lot like a mafia hit man, getting in his face, making him answer his own questions, mild-but-threatening violence and even giving him a "capisce" hand gesture when he asks if he'd made himself clear.

Immediately after Mike and Sulley get a disguised Boo through the swarm of CDA agents in the lobby, a detector machine squeals and a bunch of agents chase a random factory worker offscreen. Going by the dialogue and thumping sound effects, the factory worker is presumably dogpiled.

Don't Look Down: Stated by Sulley early on in the door vault scene (shortly before the rollercoaster drop).

Door Handle Scare: After managing to capture Boo, Sulley goes back to her door to send her back, and as he reaches for the knob it suddenly starts to turn. The next shot is of Sulley's rival, Randall, coming out of the door. He deactivates the door, and as it is lifted up to be stored away, it leaves Sulley, who had been hiding behind the door, exposed. Thankfully, Randall never looks back.

The Door Slams You: Happens twice to Randall in the door vault. The first door that Sulley, Mike and Boo go through is slammed just as he reaches it. A little later, Mike slams another door in his face, trapping two of his antennae ("I hope that hurt, lizard boy!").

When Mike said that he and Sulley would have to start a whole new life far away to keep from getting killed by Randall, he says "Goodbye, Mr. Waternoose!", which gives Sulley the idea to go to Waternoose for help. Subverted when it's revealed that Waternoose was in on the scheme. Still, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.

Then again, towards the end of the film:

Mike: At least we had some laughs, right? Sulley: Laughs...

Even Evil Has Standards: The whole monster world might scare children as an energy source, but they'd never hurt a kid. And the idea of kidnapping them is not only a crime but seen as just plain wrong.

Extra Eyes: Several monsters, mostly background characters, have more eyes than the average mammal, bird, or reptile. The most prominent ones are Waternoose and Fungus, who have five and three eyes, respectively. The monster with the highest amount of eyes is the green "witness" of Boo's attack on Harryhausen's, who has twenty eyes in total!

Fainting: Sulley faints four times when he sees the trash, that he mistakenly thinks has Boo inside it, being crushed inside the trash compactor. He does it first after seeing the trash being pounded by two big hammers, again after seeing it being rolled flat, a third time after seeing it being chopped into cubes, and a fourth time when the cubes come out and he makes to try and pick up the one that he thinks has Boo inside it.

Fingore: Happens to Mike twice, first when Roz closes the window to the help desk on his fingers, then when a kid bites his index finger.

First-Name Basis: Waternoose is the only character to refer to Sulley by his first name, James. Randall does it once while talking to Mike, and he himself is referred to only by his first name, and we only find out his surname of Boggs from Celia.

"James, this company has been in my family for three generations. I would do anything to keep it from going under."

"I'm always watching you, Wazowski. Always watching. Always."

"Just think about a few names, will ya? Loch Ness, Bigfoot, The Abominable Snowman. They all got one thing in common: banishment! We could be next!" Guess who Mike and Sulley meet after they get banished?

The scene where Boo's screaming causes the light to flicker while her laughter causes a power overload failure in Mike and Sulley's apartment.

Mike's line to Sulley in the locker room: "There's more to life than scaring."

When Sulley assures Boo that no monster will come out of his closet to scare her while she's sleeping in his bed, he says that he won't either because "[he's] off-duty." He accidentally scares her while he's on duty later.

While hiding from Randall and Fungus in the bathroom, Randall tells Fungus to get "the machine" up and running, and that he (Randall) will take care of Boo. Said machine turns out to be the scream extractor which appears later that day.

An extremely subtle one, but when Mike is running away from Randall only for Randall to be shown lying in wait for Mike, Randall is camouflaged right near one of Waternoose's portraits. Randall and Waternoose were later revealed to be working together.

"One of these days... I'm going to let you teach that guy a lesson."

Boo reveals through her drawings that Randall is the monster assigned to her, and is thus the best designated to scare her out of the entire company. This becomes relevant much later when Randall becomes her, Sulley, and Mike's biggest threat and Boo is initially too scared to help.

During the first 2319 and the first time the CDA show up, Roz slams the front panel of her desk shut. She later slams it shut on Mike's fingers. At the end of the film it's revealed she is the head of the CDA.

Randall's comment to Mike and Sulley about "the winds of change" seems like a random taunt, but then it's revealed he's the mastermind of the Scream Extractor, which he claims will "revolutionize" the scaring industry.

For Want of a Nail: If Mike hadn't forgotten to file his paperwork, Sulley wouldn't have found Boo, and Randall and Waternoose would never have been discovered.

Full-Name Ultimatum: An angry Celia makes her presence known to Mike by shouting, "Michael Wazowski!" It stops him dead in his tracks and gives him an Oh, Crap! moment.

Fun with Flushing: Sulley gets some of Boo's toys tangled up on him when he re-enters the monster world. He tries to get rid of them by flushing them down the toilet, but it gets clogged up and overflows. He then has to dump them in someone's locker, where they reappear later as a Brick Joke.

Funny Octopus: There's an octopus-like sushi chef working in the restaurant named Harryhausen's. Like all the patrons, this octopus character is terrified of the human toddler Boo.

Tropes G-H

Gambit Roulette: Mike and Sulley's plan to get Waternoose to confess depended greatly on random chance, for instance the fact that the agents wouldn't follow Sulley after he pushed over the cans. But this is justified since they had only under a minute to think up of the plan.

Groin Attack: Sulley and Mike are trying to get Boo to laugh again to reactivate all the closet doors. Mike tries a trick where he lands on a metal bar right between his legs and is in notable pain. Even though you can't see anything, ouch.

Handshake Refusal: Before the scarers start working on the first day, Sulley turns to Randall at the next station, holds out his hand and says, "Hey, may the best monster win," expecting a handshake. Randall refuses to give one and simply says, "I plan to."

Have You Told Anyone Else?: Unlike most examples, it seems genuinely innocuous (since the one asking it is concerned about the company's welfare and, by extension, its public relations) until The Reveal.

Hilarious Outtakes: Continuing the tradition with their last two films, fake bloopers were added a few weeks after the film's opening during the closing credits and later included on the home video releases. This was the last Pixar film to do this, as the creators felt that it was getting old (not to mention, it wouldn't be as convincing underwater).

Subverted in that he really was going to make more snow cones, possibly to cheer the monsters up.

Ink-Suit Actor: Despite the fact that the cast is full of adorably inhuman monsters they still manage to resemble their voice actors, especially Mike who could not be more Billy Crystal. And Randall isSteve Buscemi. According to the DVD Commentary, Buscemi accused the casting director of typecasting him when he first saw a picture of Randall.

Last-Name Basis: Sulley is usually referred to as Sulley or Sullivan. Mostly Randall calls him the latter. The only person to really refer to Sulley by his first name, James, is Waternoose. Mike is also referred to by his surname of Wazowski by Roz and Randall.

Mike: I just got us into a little place called, um, Harryhausen's. Celia:[gasps] Harryhausen's? But it's impossible to get a reservation there! Mike:Not for Googly-bear. [Celia giggles]

Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After Sulley and Mike help CDA Agent #1 uncover Waternoose's conspiracy and return Boo home, she tells Sulley and Mike "None of this ever happened, gentlemen. And I don't want to see any paperwork on this."

Lovecraft Lite: The proliferation of scales and tentacles and the inter-dimensional aspects. In addition, the trope is played with, in that the monsters regard the human world as a dangerous place and treat Boo like a pint-sized Eldritch Abomination. This also counts as Fridge Brilliance; the monsters, many of which count as Eldritch Abominations, in turn consider us the real monsters.

The Men in Black: The CDA. Extra points for being a complete inversion of the Trope Namer — they're protecting unsuspecting monsters from hideous humans.

Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Sulley happens to stumble upon Randall apparently cheating the system by having a door at his station after hours, only to discover a much larger child-kidnapping conspiracy out of it that went all the way up to Waternoose himself.

Sulley, Mike, and Boo are hiding in a bathroom stall from Randall. Randall punches them open one by one, and Sulley flinches as every door opens. Before Randall can burst the stall the trio are hiding in however, his assistant Fungus points that Boo is on the front page. After a short discussion, Randall punches the door Sulley, Mike and Boo are hiding in, but isn't looking at the time, and the door closes before he can spot them. Then he yells at Fungus and chases him out of the bathroom, demanding him to get to work on his plan.

Randall: You just keep the machine up and running, I'll take care of the kid. And when I find whoever let that kid out... THEY'RE DEAD! (punches open the stall the trio is hiding in, but he isn't looking in their direction; the door closes again before he can notice them) WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?! COME ON! GO! MOVE! NOW! Fungus: (as Randall chases him out of the bathroom) No, I'm not here! I'm going right now!... Sulley: They're gone.(A huge splash is seen in the stall Sulley, Mike, and Boo are hiding in) Boo: Ew.

Later, Sulley hides underneath a table on the Scare Floor, and Randall materializes right beside him, but is looking the other way so Randall can't see him, and the bell rings before Randall can notice him.

The Mole: Both Randall and Waternoose. Before The Reveal showing how grossly vile he really is, the former is only depicted as cocky and mean, thus less surprising than the latter Mole.

Mondegreen: Boo's dialogue throughout the film consists mostly of babbbling, with occasional words being recognizable such as "Kitty" and "Tigger". Director Pete Doctor noted in the DVD Commentary that this created an almost Rorschach-like effect, where people could hear her saying different distinct things, especially in the scene where she's singing while using the restroom.

Monster Closet: Technically, the closets aren't hidden, but it's impossible to tell from the outside when one of them's gonna open and reveal a monster.

Monster Façade: Doing this is the job of all the Scarers: they need to pretend to be vicious and scary because the screams of terrified children are their main source of energy.

Mood Whiplash: When Sulley is fighting Randall it's funny since Randall is invisible. But when Randall starts to strangle Sulley the mood gets a bit serious.

Motive Misidentification: Mike thinks Randall's behavior and motivation is all about breaking the scare record up until he flat out tells him it's not.

Nested Mouths: In Harryhausen's, one of the monsters has a second monster for a tongue, which eats the food.

The New Rock & Roll: Downplayed. It's implied that the increasing explicitness of human media is making kids harder to scare and contributing to the energy shortage in the monster world; however this remains as merely an undertone and the film never gets preachy or Anvilicious about it.

Sulley throws a teddy bear that looks like Mike at Boo so that she would quiet down and stop laughing and running around, but then Mike angrily snatches it away from her asserting it's his. Guess how Boo reacts.

Sulley attempts to tell Waternoose of what Randall tried to do, but it turns out they've been conspiring together and sends him and Mike to the Himalayas. Mike calls him out on that.

Just barely subverted in the ending: Although Sulley and Mike ultimately manage to get Boo back into her bedroom, and expose his boss, their actions also caused the company to nearly be shut down, and almost caused a permanent city-wide blackout as a consequence. The only reason it didn't turn out that way was because it was discovered that the children's laughter had 10x the power output of scream. In addition, the Scarers seem well-adjusted to the Laughter switch.

No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Randall delivers one to Sulley while invisible so Sulley can't fight back. Mike doesn't realise Sulley's being beaten up because he can't see Randall.

Packed Hero: Parodied. Boo loses one of the "eyestalks" of her monster costume in a trash can. Sulley sees it and thinks she is in a pile of garbage, then watches the garbage get swept into a cart, dropped down a chute, and put through an exceedingly brutal compactor. The audience sees her walk away from the garbage can; Sulley faints at every step of the compactor.

Paper-Thin Disguise: Boo's monster outfit, to an extent, considering her head is looking out through the mouth.

Peek-a-Bogeyman: Sulley, upon noticing Boo make a drawing of Randall, assures her that Randall isn't coming through the closet by opening the closet door to reveal nothing in there. In the outtakes, Roz is shown to be there, and she says "Guess who?"

Played with in the "out-takes" where Sulley (in front) trips, and the monsters behind him trip, and the monsters behind them... If you look closely, you can actually see a tentacle from the monster behind him getting caught up around his feet which is why he trips.

Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: A furious Mike to Sulley after they are banished: "YOU'RE STILL NOT LISTENING?!" Immediately after, he screams with rage and dives at Sulley.

Production Foreshadowing: Nemo appears as a clown fish on the wall in Harryhausen's, is seen on the wall in the trailer Randall gets banished to, and a Nemo toy is seen among the toys in Boo's room.

Proscenium Reveal: The film opens with a monster walking into a child's bedroom. He is freaked out when the child starts screaming and starts knocking things over — and then suddenly the lights turn on, an alarm goes off, and the voice "Simulation Terminated!" is heard repeatedly. One wall of the room lifts up, revealing that the child is actually a robot, and we are actually in Monsters, Inc.'s state-of-the-art children's room training simulator, being observed by an instructor and several other students, who start critiquing him about his mistakes.

Rage Breaking Point: After Sulley and Mike are banished, Mike tells Sulley that all he had to do was listen to him about what he thought was going on. Then he realises... YOU'RE STILL NOT LISTENING?!, crosses this, screams with rage and dives at Sulley, knocking the two of them down a snowdrift, and leaving both poised to punch at the other before Mike sees the Abominable Snowman behind Sulley.

Real Fake Door: Any time a door opens to nothing, especially when Mike and Sulley are exiled to the Himalayas.

Reality Ensues: Discussed at the end when Mike and Sulley stop Randall and Waternoose. Mike talks about how since the CEO of Monsters Inc. was so corrupt and then being arrested, that Monsters Inc. will be shut down and since it provides power to the whole city, no power. Mike also points out they will probably be run out of town. Only subverted due to the discovery that a childs laughter is more powerful than their screams so Monsters Inc. isn't shut down but reworked.

Also, CDA Number One. When the matter of what to do about Boo arises, Sulley says "I just want to send her home." CDA Number One replies, "Very good."

Refuge in Audacity: Mike pulls this twice with Blatant Lies that work. He first tells Waternoose that a disguised Boo is present at work due to it being "Bring An Obscure Relative To Work" Day. Justified due to having to think on the fly. It works, as Waternoose thinks he may have missed the memo.

He does it again on the Scare Floor when everyone turns to look at him and Sulley, telling them they're rehearsing a scene for the upcoming company play. That also works. Bonus points when, in the outtakes, the play actually gets made.

Reminder Failure: A subverted example occurs when Sulley tries repeating to himself where he should deliver Mike's paperwork. He corrects his own verbalized mistake on which colored copies go where, but he never actually gets around to delivering them, forgetting because the human child Boo gets out.

Repeat Cut: When the door on which Mike, Sulley and Boo are riding hurtles down a steep slope. In the first shot, you see them travelling down most of slope from behind, then you see a shot of them from the front, followed by a POV shot. But judging by the first shot, it takes them a rather long time to go down the last part of the slope, meaning that the camera must have jumped back a second in time.

Sulley: Pink copies go to accounting, fuchsia ones go to Roz. [Beat]No, the fuchsia ones go to purchasing, the goldenrod ones go to Roz. Man, I have no idea what puce is. [He looks at the colors] Oh, that's puce.

Reptiles Are Abhorrent: While there are many other reptilian / dinosaurian monsters that aren't villainous in the slightest, Randall is the most obviously reptilian-looking and "serpentine" of them all.

Rewatch Bonus: The scene where Sulley accidentally scares Boo has Mike in the background trying to convince Mr Waternoose that Boo isn't toxic. Waternoose's reactions during that scene include a cartoonish gasp and pantomime raising of hands when he first sees her, a calculating shiftiness of his eyes once Mike starts talking, being so willing to discard a lifetime of teaching during the course of a minute-long speech from Mike that he willingly picks Boo up (which Mike is still hesitant to do after a full day in her company), a different sort of anger during his "how could this happen?" question than would be expected from someone who's just been told a murderous psychopath is using his factory to kidnap children, and asking who else knows about Boo. Assuming the viewer wasn't distracted by the heartbreaking way Boo cowers away from Sulley, it would be implausible for even the most Reasonable Authority Figure to react as calmly as Waternoose does. Rewatching the scene after discovering that he's behind the whole scheme makes all the subtleties of his reaction make perfect sense

Mike is always being cut somehow from images and videos he appears in (in the Monsters, Inc. commercial at the beginning, the M in the "Monsters Inc." corporate logo is hiding him) — and doesn't care because he did at least get a bit of the spotlight.

It's more implied that he got slipped the idiot pill and didn't notice.

Mike: I can't believe it! I'm... on the cover of a magazine!

The original DVD has a picture of Mike and Sulley — with Mike largely obscured by the hole.

"23-19! We have a 23-19!" Poor George. He finally wises up enough to pass off the sock to his assistant before he can make a 2319 call.

Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A lighthearted example. When Mike tells Celia that he's taking her to Harryhausen's, a super-trendy sushi restaurant, for her birthday, she says that "it's impossible to get a reservation there." It's later revealed that Sulley used his pull as the city's top scarer to book Mike a table.

Searching the Stalls: Sulley and Boo hide from Randall in a toilet stall. He punches the stalls open one by one, and Sulley flinches as every door opens. Randall actually slams open the stall Sulley is hiding in, but isn't looking at the time. Momentum closes the door before Randall sees them.

Shovel Strike: Randall's fate. He's banished to a trailer in the bayou where a Ragin' Cajun repeatedly whacks him with a shovel, mistaking him for a gator.

Shoo Out the Clowns: A brief moment of this happens after Sulley and Mike are banished. During a tense moment for Mike and Sulley during their argument, the Abominable Snowman awkwardly excuses himself to leave the cave and make more snow cones, as Mike had just thrown them all at Sulley in his anger.

The Smurfette Principle: The only major female characters in the movie are a little girl with limited dialogue, the forgettable love interest Celia, and Roz the undercover CDA agent, who has little screen time, and is also voiced by a man. The male-to-female ratio is 4:2.

Spanner in the Works: Mike manages to get the ball rolling on uncovering Waternoose's conspiracy by forgetting his paperwork. Because he forgot and had a date that night, he sent Sulley in his place, meaning that Sulley was in the right place to discover Boo's door, which leads to her entering Monstropolis.

The Starscream: After Waternoose tells Randall to leave no witnesses, Randall replies in a manner that lets the audience know that he's planning to backstab his own boss when this is all over.

Sure, Let's Go with That: A subtle example but when Randall corners Mike and is accused of cheating he initially acts outraged before suddenly calming down and no longer protesting the point before offering to help get Boo back to the human world. As we later see, it's meant to be foreshadowing that the real reason he was after Boo was in order to use her to test the Scream Extractor.

Surprisingly Happy Ending: The movie seems like it's about to have a Bittersweet Ending in the form of Sulley having to part ways with Boo, but it turns out that Mike Wazowski recreated the door that leads to her room, so Sulley can at least still visit her.

Tae Kwon Door: Mike slams a door on Randall during their fight to the tune of "I hope that hurt, lizard boy!".

Take a Third Option: Sulley, upon gaining control of the company, had only two options of what do to with it. He could have made the workers continue scaring kids for energy, or left the company to fall, causing Monstropolis to lose all electricity. He takes a third option that he discovered upon first finding Boo (reminded by the last word of Mike's pep-talk): He opts to make children laugh instead, which produces more electricity than screams of terror did.

After Boo sends everyone at Harryhausen's into a panic, Mike tells Sulley while they flee, "Well, I don't think that date could have gone any worse." Cue the CDA initiating an 835 on the restaurant and an Oh, Crap! reaction from Sulley and Mike.

Sulley to Mike when sneaking Boo into the factory: "Everything's going to be OK." Cue an Oh, Crap! immediately afterwards when they find the lobby swarming with CDA agents.

Terminally Dependent Society: Implied throughout the film. A major background problem is that kids are harder to scare these days, which is leading to a scream shortage in monster-world where the energy given from screams powers pretty much everything. This is fixed at the end of the movie where making kids laugh becomes the new source of energy.

That Came Out Wrong: At Harryhausen's, Mike's telling Celia what he told someone else when asked who he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. He's about to say "you", when Sullivan stumbles by outside and Mike accidentally finishes the statement with a surprised "Sulley!?".

Unstoppable Rage: Sulley, Mike and Boo. Sulley when he releases Boo from the scream extractor, Mike when he and Sulley are banished, and finally Boo in the door vault when she attacks Randall and in doing so saves Sulley.

Mike: YOU'RE STILL NOT LISTENING?! (screams with rage and dives at Sulley)

Verbal Backspace: When Mike accuses Randall of cheating the system to boost his numbers, Randall's reaction almost gives away his deeper intentions, before he corrects himself.

Before that, Randall flies into a borderline psychosis and tries to murder Sulley because Waternoose all but tells him that he'll never live up to Sulley, no matter what he does or how hard he tries.

We Need a Distraction: When Randall chases Sulley and Mike through the scare floor to prevent them from revealing Waternoose's plan, Celia announces on the intercom that Randall just broke Sulley's scare record, prompting the other monsters on the floor to mob him with congratulations, allowing Sully and Mike to make their escape.

Celia: Go get 'em, Googly-Bear.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: Waternoose: "I'll kidnap a thousand children before I let this company die! And I'll silence anyone who gets in my way!"

At the end of the film, Waternoose tells Sulley that he'll kidnap a thousand children before the company goes under, knocks him out of the way, and finds the simulation child telling his mother goodnight. Then as he's arrested, he turns angrily to Sulley and says that the energy crisis will only get worse because of him.

After their exile to the Himalayas, Mike tells Sulley that he should have listened to him instead of reporting the situation regarding Boo to Waternoose.

By the end of the film, Waternoose points out that Sulley's efforts to reveal his corruption will not only cause Monsters, Inc. to shut down, but the energy crisis will get worse.

Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Boo is remarkably sanguine about finding herself in a world full of monsters, but she's absolutely terrified of Randall, her scarer. Her file indicates she actually is afraid of snakes.

Wrong Genre Savvy: Mike, throughout the movie, as he always thinks he is the star and Sulley is his sidekick. Taken to its logical extreme in the "Company Play" bonus scene.

You Kill It, You Bought It: A non-fatal example occurs at the end of the film when Sully unintentionally does away with Waternoose, the old establishment, and heading the company, remakes Monsters Inc. to seek children's laughter instead of fright. The energy crisis is averted.

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